Next Monday you'll feel more confident. After the gym you'll feel more confident. After one more drink you'll feel more confident. After you get a better haircut, a better jacket, a better job.
You've been "getting ready" for two years.
She's standing ten feet away right now. She'll be gone in four minutes. No amount of preparation will manufacture the courage that only comes from moving your feet.
Walk over. Stumble through the first sentence. Let it be clumsy. Let it be imperfect. You will feel more alive in those ten seconds than you have all month.
You paid for dinner. You drove. You said "whatever you want is fine" every single time. All the effort, no expectations.
And she left anyway — probably for a guy who makes her pick up the pizza.
Painful. Also predictable. Her mind quietly concludes that anything requiring zero effort from her is worth exactly zero. You became a free sample, and free samples get taken for granted.
The 22 Rules flip the dynamic. Small shifts that get her investing effort, money, and time in you — until SHE'S the one afraid of losing YOU.
Well, wait until you find a girl that you **** who you ARE interested in a relationship with.dajinn said:I spin enough plates, man. I'm just not interested in relationships with anyone that I ever ****.
You made your case like a lawyer. Stable job. Good guy. Ready for something real. All true. All irrelevant.
She weighed your points, nodded along, felt nothing — then fell hard for some tattooed bartender with a motorcycle and a gambling problem.
Logic is where attraction goes to die. The "22 Rules" work a level deeper, on the subconscious switches that decide within minutes whether you register as a MAN or as part of the furniture.
Stop presenting evidence. Start flipping switches.
She's got A LOT of BAGGAGE. You have not even scratched the surface. Low self-esteem to start with. All this talking in riddle stuff? A healthy mature 52 year-old woman is gonna get straight to the point even if she does have HSV. Even if you got in a relationship, she knows it will end eventually, and probably not well.dajinn said:I just want to know, what you guys think about the overall situation she seems to be playing here, what she could be getting at, how you think this would end up for me, and if you guys think that pursuing this makes me irresponsible, if its harmful to my health, or if it just is plain wrong. I really like this woman and could see myself with her. But I like to give things careful consideration before moving forward.
Trollsigma335 said:OP you've got some major issues with your self if you are even considering anything aside from friendship with this woman, for serious.
WTF?I am 22(23 in October)and she is...well, she is 52. But she doesn't look a day over 22.
She calls you when her car breaks down. When she needs help moving. When some guy she's actually dating treats her badly.
You're the listener. The reliable one. The guy who would treat her so much better, if she'd just open her eyes.
She won't. You trained her to see you as the low-effort option — the friend who requires zero risk and zero investment. Every favor dug the hole deeper.
The "22 Rules" break the pattern. You'll stop auditioning for a role she already cast and become the man she chases instead. It starts with Rule 1.
Nice attempt to control the frame to make sure people only tell you what you want to hear!dajinn said:I need some very mature and very open minded advice. Stigmas and prejudices probably don't need to apply in here.
So I started a job about two months ago and met a very lovely co-worker...(please don't advise me on the don't **** where you eat either
Next Monday you'll feel more confident. After the gym you'll feel more confident. After one more drink you'll feel more confident. After you get a better haircut, a better jacket, a better job.
You've been "getting ready" for two years.
She's standing ten feet away right now. She'll be gone in four minutes. No amount of preparation will manufacture the courage that only comes from moving your feet.
Walk over. Stumble through the first sentence. Let it be clumsy. Let it be imperfect. You will feel more alive in those ten seconds than you have all month.
This is exactly the kind of advice I was hoping for and the best advice ill be taking away from it. Thank you.Stagger Lee said:She played hard to get, lead and strung you along, and that's how she got you to catch feelings. This is the oldest tactic in the book for a woman to snag a man, one that a lot of younger girls don't seem to know how or want to use. But in this case, she wasn't really trying to snag you for a LTR because she really wants one with you, someone way too young for such an old woman. She just wants to see if she could do it. I honestly think the old woman is playing you and using you for her ego and to feel better about her insecurities.
Had she went for the sex with you, then you would've been over her probably after the first night. She know this. I can't imagine sex with a post-menopausal woman could be very good. Certainly not as good as a woman in her 20's. the herpes thing makes it case closed because there's no way to protect yourself from it except avoiding sex with a known carrier. Condoms really should come with an extra piece to first cover the area around the penis to block herpes, but I digress.
You should realize the value of still being young and not date anyone over 30. You'll have plenty of time when you're older to date old women.
You asked her if she wanted to grab coffee. Then you asked if the time worked. Then you asked if the place was okay. Then you asked if she'd prefer tea.
Four questions. Four chances for her to say no. Four signals that you're terrified of making a decision.
Plan it. Pick the place. Pick the time. Tell her where to meet you. She'll either show up or she won't.
Either way, you look like a man instead of a scared little boy.